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Alan Coren has died.

When I was a nipper, he was a writer and then editor for 'Punch'. I can remember being in one of the school libraries (which had a near-complete collection stretching back to the 1880's) and reading all the issues since the war (that's WWII, always 'The War', WWI being 'The Great War'). It took me a few weeks of most of my free time.

He commissioned work from great cartoonists...though it also must be said 'Punch' under his editorship still lacked the bite it had under Muggeridge.

In the 60's the mantle of satire had passed to Private Eye, though Punch was always more establishment leaning.
English humour shall miss him.

'The Sanity Inspector' and 'Golfing for Cats' are two of his collections of articles from Punch written in the 70's, and from memory, very well worth reading.

As an aside, his daughter won a major poker tournament, and writes regularly on sex and gambling. And his son is a respected journalist. But I don't think any of those facts hastened his demise.

Who'd write for a living.....I mean, that would make it akin to work.

(no subject)

Okay....most folk who bother to read this blog know my views on things, and know where I stand.

James Watson was a great discoverer.
More than that, he has done great and important science.

He's got a right to say what he thinks, even if wrong: we all have that right.
I don't know how much of his statement has been taken out of context or not, but I do know, however contentious his statements are they will be disproved or otherwise by weight of evidence or falsifiability (Popper comes to our aid yet again).

Which is not the same as being shouted down.

Now I don't agree with the statement I read:

"I am inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa......all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours -- whereas all the testing says not really." What went in the ellipses I have yet to ascertain. But I disagree.

But even if his thesis were provably true it wouldn't matter that much. Testimony doesn't count for too much and one individual is too small a sample and this sort of thing is unrigorous and unscientific, however....

As an individual (not a culture or society) I can attest that though considerably more intelligent and informed than some of my peers, I work less often, am less wealthy, and less bothered about success than any of them. The fact that some of them earn seven figures a year is not down to anything other than motivation. The fact I can't be bothered is down to my inherent idleness, and my dislike of being told what to do by folk of any stripe, unless I respect them and/or their levels of competence.
In comparison to my chums I'm a failure....and not because I'm necessarily stupider.
Beyond a basic level of intelligence, everything else is motivation and luck.

You can't always be lucky, but you can always be ready for when it happens.
Or in my case.....mañana....I've a book to read and you disturb me for what triviality....Pah, work....
(Mind you, if I hadn't inherited my property, I'd be right up shit street.)